Exploring organisational right-sizing, whilst retaining critical skills at an engineering consultancy in South Africa.
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Date
2020
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Abstract
Organisational right-sizing (upsizing or downsizing) has in recent years become a
global phenomenon across all sectors of the economy. The unrelenting pursuit by
shareholders for improved resource utilisation, higher revenue and profits supported
by lower costs of production have presented the right-sizing model as a multi-purpose
vehicle. Irrespective of the firm’s structure (size), this is deemed the solution for
sustained competitive advantage. However, the literature confirms that less than
seventy per cent achieve the desired results post right-sizing strategy implementation.
This study aimed to explore the factors that surround right-sizing and the
implementation process aligned to retaining critical skills within an engineering
consultancy in South Africa. Organisations propound that talent management delivers
a sustained competitive advantage. Communication on right-sizing creates a plethora
of employment-related insecurities that result in special talent taking flight from the
firm. The theoretical framework of the McKinsey 7-S model evaluated the strategy
implementation by assessing the hard and soft elements of the firm’s design. The
study engaged a qualitative research design, administering a semi-structured
interview instrument to eight participants who hold management portfolios.
Participants were selected by a purposive sampling method, which contributed rich
insights towards the study. The interview transcripts were coded, followed by a
thematic analysis that identified three main themes containing ten sub-themes. The
findings identified that strategy implementation is a complicated exercise which
requires a strategy consultant to implement. Another finding was related to
management’s communication, as the implementation phase was challenged by
resistance to change arising from ambiguity over the implementation vision. The
results acknowledged that the retention strategy was limited to financial remuneration.
The literature reviewed and the study results confirmed growth in the support for a
non-financial retention strategy. Finally, contrary to the respondents’ view that
resources are critical to the firm’s success, the firm lacked talent management and
skills development policies. The recommendation was made that the talent retention
strategy requires a guiding organisational policy offering transparency.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.